Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences
It's not how smart you are, it's HOW you are
smart!

Ever see the bumper sticker, "My kid beat up
your honor student?" That's a not so
enlightened approach to today's topic:
Multiple Intelligences. You see, the violent
kid being raised by the troglodyte is
exhibiting his Kinesthetic skills while
humiliating the child that excels in the
Linguistic/Logical domains. The encouraging
part of this is that the knuckle-dragging
mouth breather can be taught to excel at
other areas as well!

There is a constant flow of new information
on how the human brain operates, how it
differs in function between genders, how
emotions impact on intellectual acuity, even
on how genetics and environment each impact
our cognitive abilities. While each area of
study has its merits, Howard Gardner of
Harvard University has identified different
KINDS of intelligence we possess. This has
particularly strong ramifications in the
classroom, because if we can identify
different strengths among these
intelligences teachers can accommodate
different learning styles more successfully
according to their orientation to learning.

Dr.
Gardner 's work suggests nine intelligences.
He speculates that there may be many more
yet to be identified. Only time will tell.
These are the paths to children's learning
that teachers can address in their
classrooms right now. They are:

VISUAL/SPATIAL - learning visually and
organizing ideas spatially. Seeing
concepts in action in order to
understand them. The ability to "see"
things in one's mind in planning to
create a product or solve a problem.

VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - learning through the
spoken and written word. This
intelligence was always valued in the
traditional classroom and in traditional
assessments of intelligence and
achievement.

MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - learning through
reasoning and problem solving. Also
highly valued in the traditional
classroom, where students were asked to
adapt to logically sequenced delivery of
instruction.

BODILY/KINESTHETIC - learning through
interaction with one's environment. This
intelligence is not the domain of
"overly active" learners. It promotes
understanding through concrete
experience.

MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - learning through
patterns, rhythms and music. This
includes not only auditory learning, but
the identification of patterns through
all the senses.

INTRAPERSONAL - learning through
feelings, values and attitudes. This is
a decidedly affective component of
learning through which students place
value on what they learn and take
ownership for their learning.

INTERPERSONAL - learning through
interaction with others. Not the domain
of children who are simply "talkative"
or "overly social." This intelligence
promotes collaboration and working
cooperatively with others.

NATURALIST - learning through
classification, categories and
hierarchies. The naturalist intelligence
picks up on subtle differences in
meaning. It is not simply the study of
nature; it can be used in all areas of
study..

EXISTENTIAL - learning by seeing the
"big picture": "Why are we here?" "What
is my role in the world?" "What is my
place in my family, school and
community?" This intelligence seeks
connections to real world understandings
and applications of new learning.

Most teachers are now working on
assimilating this knowledge into their
strategies for helping students learn. While
it is too early to tell all the
ramifications for this research, it is clear
that the day is past where educators teach
the text book and it is the dawn of
educators teaching each child according to
their orientation to the world.

Isolation as a Brain Function

As medicine studies isolated brain functions
through cases of brain injury and
degenerative disease, we are able to
identify actual physiological locations for
specific brain functions. A true
intelligence will have its function
identified in a specific location in the
human brain.

Prodigies, Savants and Exceptional
Individuals

Human record of genius such as Mozart being
able to perform on the piano at the age of
four and Dustin Hoffman's "Rainman"
character being able to calculate dates
accurately down to the day of the week
indicate that there are specific human
abilities which can demonstrate themselves
to high degrees in unique cases. Highly
developed examples of a true intelligence
are recorded in rare occurrences.

Set of Core Operations

There is an identifiable set of procedures
and practices which are unique to each true
intelligence.

Developmental History with an Expert
End Performance

As clinical psychologists continue to study
the developmental stages of human growth and
learning, a clear pattern of developmental
history is being documented of the human
mind. A true intelligence has an
identifiable set of stages of growth with a
Mastery Level which exists as an end state
in human development. We can see examples of
people who have reached the Mastery level
for each intelligence.

Evolutionary History

As cultural anthropologists continue to
study the history of human evolution, there
is adequate evidence that our species has
developed intelligence over time through
human experience. A true intelligence can
have its development traced through the
evolution of homo sapiens.

Supported Psychological Tasks

Clinical psychologists can identify sets of
tasks for different domains of human
behavior. A true intelligence can be
identified by specific tasks which can be
carried out, observed and measured.

Supported Psychometric Tasks

The use of psychometric instruments to
measure intelligence (such as I.Q. tests)
have traditionally been used to measure only
specific types of ability. However, these
tests can be designed and used to identify
and quantify true unique intelligences. The
Multiple Intelligence theory does not reject
psychometric testing for specific scientific
study.

Encoded into a Symbol System

Humans have developed many kinds of symbol
systems over time for varied disciplines. A
true intelligence has its own set of images
it uses which are unique to itself and are
important in completing its identified set
of tasks.

The Lesson
Plan

Brief Description

Use an online inventory
to determine students'
learning strengths and
intelligences.

Objectives

Students will

take an
inventory to determine
their learning strengths
and weaknesses.

create graphs to
show their learning
strengths. (optional)

build a program to
improve their learning
by studying their
personal learning
strengths.

What are your students'
learning styles? Which of
Howard Gardner's multiple
intelligences best applies
to each of them? Those are
things any teacher might
want to know in order to
differentiate instruction
for his or her students --
but this activity
also can provide eye-opening
information for the students
themselves!

An inventory of students'
learning styles can build
self-esteem by helping them
discover their strengths;
learn about areas in which
they might need to make more
effort; and appreciate the
differences among
themselves.

Published inventories are
readily available to help
teachers and students
determine their learning
strengths. You also can find
some excellent free
resources online:

How Many Ways Are You
Smart?
This simple printable (pdf)
page provides an easy tool
for discovering which of
eight intelligences students
favor. Students can do the
activity on their own by
simply folding the inventory
sheet in half and making a
checkmark next to each of
the 24 statements that
describe them. Then, they
unfold the paper and tally
the results. Be sure
students share the results
with you!

Multiple Intelligences
Inventory
If you're looking for a more
in-depth MI inventory, this
one provides ten statements
that relate to each of nine
intelligences. Students
identify the statements that
describe them as learners.
They then tally and graph
the results on their own. If
you're looking for
additional statements
related to each of the
intelligences, you might use
the Web page
What Are My Learning
Strengths?